Truth is stranger than fiction

MK Hendel reported that he had received documentation that that Eyal Arad, the
PR advisor to the Prime Minister’s office, had devised a campaign strategy for
Olmert which would promote the notion that residents of Judea and Samaria were
“more hated than Hamas”, which led Olmert to describe the Jews in Amona as the
Jewish Hamas, following Wednesday’s confrontation.

MK Hendel told the media that Arad had advised Olmert to foster an image as
a “leader who stands firm in the face of the settlers”, and that this would
buttress support for him in the polls, instead of forcing Olmert to address the
issue of the Hamas electoral victory and the continuing shower of unanswered
missile attacks from Gaza.